Gang who stole over $4million in Crypto-currency caught

[BIT-BENDER]

To buttress my previous https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5588058.msg66926172#msg66926172 about feelings safe to launder funds using Crypto-currency or scam people of their Crypto-currency and not get caught.

Here is a source https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://news.met.police.uk/news/men-who-stole-more-than-4-pounds-million-of-crypto-are-jailed-511271&ved=2ahUKEwj6ypSJ6dmVAxVxRkEAHRKPGowQ0PADKAB6BAgXEAE&sqi=2&usg=AOvVaw3wxVZtR0hQ2uTXuTJjE_iy and according to it a gang who stole over $4million were caught.

According to the news one of the gang member was caught while he was naked in his bed sleeping, this group of criminals specializes in impassonating security agency and the police, causing panic to their victims and advising them to send their funds to wallet the claim to be of the security agency.

There is a lot to learn from this news as a Crypto-currency user, the real police used all possible means to track down this criminal and once again I repeat you are not safe using Crypto-currency as an opportunity to scam or launder funds.

[Agbamoni]

There is a lot to learn from this news as a Crypto-currency user, the real police used all possible means to track down this criminal and once again I repeat you are not safe using Crypto-currency as an opportunity to scam or launder funds.

The message is more important to scammers or fraudsters. Genuine crypto users have to be more careful who they trade with, but shouldn't be concerned about the government searching for them for fraud.

I saw the post online, but I can't relate to it because I am neither a scammer nor a fraudster.

[Rubuchi]

There is a lot to learn from this news as a Crypto-currency user, the real police used all possible means to track down this criminal and once again I repeat you are not safe using Crypto-currency as an opportunity to scam or launder funds.

The message is more important to scammers or fraudsters. Genuine crypto users have to be more careful who they trade with, but shouldn't be concerned about the government searching for them for fraud.

I saw the post online, but I can't relate to it because I am neither a scammer nor a fraudster.

exactly my thoughts too. I was looking for the best way to respond to this but could not knowing that it will benefit scammers and the money launderers more than any other individuals. Though let's not think myopic because sometimes it is good to have this knowledge just in case something comes up and the government is looking to pin you down don't think you cannot be discovered in a way, so regardless of any outcome, even if it is good, just play safe out there.

[Nathrixxx]

According to the news one of the gang member was caught while he was naked in his bed sleeping, this group of criminals specializes in impassonating security agency and the police, causing panic to their victims and advising them to send their funds to wallet the claim to be of the security agency.

This kind of scam is more predominant in France, and several people in that country have been caught trying to engage in physical assault under a Wrench attack. How it happens is that some set of people will try to impersonate a military or police officer by wearing their uniforms and trying to get access to your domicile.

The next thing you see is to attack you with threats to lose your life if you fail to comply by revealing your crypto assets to them and sending your entire coins to the wallet they are going to provide; many target well-known crypto holders, which is why it is not a red flag for us to appear to the public about what we do and our worth in cryptocurrency.

[BIT-BENDER]

There is a lot to learn from this news as a Crypto-currency user, the real police used all possible means to track down this criminal and once again I repeat you are not safe using Crypto-currency as an opportunity to scam or launder funds.

The message is more important to scammers or fraudsters. Genuine crypto users have to be more careful who they trade with, but shouldn't be concerned about the government searching for them for fraud.

I saw the post online, but I can't relate to it because I am neither a scammer nor a fraudster.

I don't get, the message is about how over $4million was taking from someone, if you read the link which I doubt you did you would see that it was explained how the criminals made way with someones Crypto-currency.
What better way to learn about scam than learning from other people's experiences, there are newbies and other people who can read the story and learn to be better positioned not to fall for such scams.

I strongly believe you are being myopic about this thread, so just because you aren't a scammer a scam news doesn't concern you, that has to be a funny joke. People learn from scam stories so they also don't fall victims that's why such scam news are regularly posted in the forum for educational and awareness purposes.

[Franctoshi]

Only those that don't understand what Bitcoin is all about would feel it's a safe place for laundering money and for other criminal activities and not getting caught. Its privacy doesn't make it non-traceable, because on the other hand, Bitcoin is transparent when it comes to its transactions, as every single transaction from day 1 is registered and visible on the blockchain for everyone to see.

[Bitcoin.com97]

Only those that don't understand what Bitcoin is all about would feel it's a safe place for laundering money and for other criminal activities and not getting caught. Its privacy doesn't make it non-traceable, because on the other hand, Bitcoin is transparent when it comes to its transactions, as every single transaction from day 1 is registered and visible on the blockchain for everyone to see.

You are right ,but people still need to be very careful, because scammer and fraudsters are always looking for a way to scammed people, feeling Bitcoin is a safe place and you don't need to be secretive especially with your seedpharse ,this guy's will deal with people, despite how transparency we thought it is ,and everything is traceable isn't enough reason to be carefree,so I will still urge everyone to be careful when dealing with their Bitcoin investment.

[Marykeller]

According to the news one of the gang member was caught while he was naked in his bed sleeping, this group of criminals specializes in impassonating security agency and the police, causing panic to their victims and advising them to send their funds to wallet the claim to be of the security agency.

This kind of scam is more predominant in France, and several people in that country have been caught trying to engage in physical assault under a Wrench attack. How it happens is that some set of people will try to impersonate a military or police officer by wearing their uniforms and trying to get access to your domicile.

The next thing you see is to attack you with threats to lose your life if you fail to comply by revealing your crypto assets to them and sending your entire coins to the wallet they are going to provide; many target well-known crypto holders, which is why it is not a red flag for us to appear to the public about what we do and our worth in cryptocurrency.

Not only is it a red flag to display our worth in crypto to the public. Social media posts stating how much we have earned or own in Bitcoin should be avoided completely because we don't know who has bad intentions towards us in our progress in life.

It could be our friends or strangers who we have as friends on social media platforms, and they get to find out about our crypto worth through the post we made, because there's no way someone would get to know whether you are a crypto investor or not, if not disclose to them our accumulation so far

[Franctoshi]

Only those that don't understand what Bitcoin is all about would feel it's a safe place for laundering money and for other criminal activities and not getting caught. Its privacy doesn't make it non-traceable, because on the other hand, Bitcoin is transparent when it comes to its transactions, as every single transaction from day 1 is registered and visible on the blockchain for everyone to see.

despite how transparency we thought it is ,and everything is traceable isn't enough reason to be carefree,so I will still urge everyone to be careful when dealing with their Bitcoin investment.

You just deviated from my point, traceability and the transparency I talked about, has nothing to with your seed phrases, normally, when you option to self-custody, Then you should understand you have a responsibility of keeping your cryptos safe and that's by properly safeguarding your seed phrases with the best/at your best safety method such as storing using a Ledger Nano wallet, Electrum and the rest.

[Gost ms]

I think there were several reasons behind falling victim to this scam. Lack of caution among ourselves and telling everyone that we have Bitcoin. The person whose Bitcoin was stolen could not identify a website, whether it was a real website or a fake website. One of the biggest mistakes is telling anyone that he has Bitcoin. Because whenever a person tells everyone that he has a lot of Bitcoin, he puts himself at risk. Because someone may never keep his Bitcoin in the bank, they keep Bitcoin in their own home. Whenever he tells everyone, if someone wants to steal this Bitcoin, he can kidnap you or harm you, steal your holdings. It is necessary to maintain confidentiality as much as possible.

[Agathamay]

There is a lot to learn from this news as a Crypto-currency user, the real police used all possible means to track down this criminal and once again I repeat you are not safe using Crypto-currency as an opportunity to scam or launder funds.

The message is more important to scammers or fraudsters. Genuine crypto users have to be more careful who they trade with, but shouldn't be concerned about the government searching for them for fraud.

I saw the post online, but I can't relate to it because I am neither a scammer nor a fraudster.

Yeah I also saw the news and I just felt the scammers were total novice to cryptocurrency and I think one of the easiest way they might have been caught was through their ip addresses since the amount was a very huge amount, and also involving the police, the police had to take the case very serious so as to clear their name and if the scammers where professionals, they would have sorted ways of cleaning the coin through mixers or even used a decentralized wallet but I guess they failed on these steps which might have lead to their arrest and I hope they get to catch more people like this.

[Btcdeybodi]

This is just an unfortunate situation because anyone can disguise as security agent to harm or defraud people so this is not even about being careful with one's cryptocurrency. What i just learnt in this story is that cryptocurrency transaction can still be traced especially if someone steals it.

Yeah I also saw the news and I just felt the scammers were total novice to cryptocurrency and I think one of the easiest way they might have been caught was through their ip addresses since the amount was a very huge amount, and also involving the police, the police had to take the case very serious so as to clear their name and if the scammers where professionals, they would have sorted ways of cleaning the coin through mixers or even used a decentralized wallet but I guess they failed on these steps which might have lead to their arrest and I hope they get to catch more people like this.

This is not a matter of being a novice, from the link that OP posted, they used different medium to track the scammers, not only by their IP addresses. About them using a mixers service to mix the coin, if the government is ready for a case they can still contact that mixer service to disclose the address that the coin was mixed into. Don't play with the government because crypto transactions are not completely decentralised.

[SatoPrincess]

It’s really sad to read that Nigerians in diaspora are committing financial crimes, at the same time I am happy they got caught so they can’t hurt anyone else again.
When you look at the investigation process, and how the police caught them. You will discover that there isn’t anything private on social media, even if Snapchat messages delete on the user’s end, it’s stored in the data base and authorities can have access to it.

[Coyster]

First, i must say the victims are very gullible, how could they have had so much money in crypto, but yet fall for such a cheap scam like this. To believe that police officers would call you just to inform you that your coins are at risk is beyond me, they couldn't think for one second how the supposed officers got such information.

That said, as for the scammers, i am glad they were caught, but they were stupid to start living a lavish lifestyle after stealing and laundering this money, they ought to know that doing that would attract attention to them and it did. Of course, law enforcement do uncover crypto scam, especially when the perpetrators are not so skilled in moving funds privately and breaking all links with their real identity.

[Jubilee58]

This is exactly the reason we should not make noise with our Bitcoin investment because of the danger associated with it.
One might have his wallet secured as an investor, but once you begin to brag , announcing your portfolio to the public, that will be the beginning of your problem because even the people you call friends if they don't attack you directly, they can connive with criminals outside to come, and attack you because you exposed your portfolio to them.

I once a story where a student exposed his bitcoin portfolio to his friend, but never new his friend was envious of him, so he killed his friend, and made away with his bitcoin. So when you don't expose yourself or bitcoin investment to the public, it will be difficult for criminals to identify you are a Bitcoin investor.

[Mate2237]

Good one from the police who where able to bring this criminal gang to account for their crimes, these criminals should be made to pay for the consequences of their actions. And the victims should be paid back their money which they have lost. Crime is crime any name you wants to call it, whether it's crypto currency or not we should deal with crime as it's.



But my concern in this story is how will someone believe that his wallet address is under attack, and believed someone who is a stranger impersonating as a police and successfully transferred his crypto assets to the wallets address of these criminals. This is strange but with careful analysis I have come to the realization of the importance of knowledge and education, which is what we have been emphasizing on this forum.

[SatoPrincess]

First, i must say the victims are very gullible, how could they have had so much money in crypto, but yet fall for such a cheap scam like this. To believe that police officers would call you just to inform you that your coins are at risk is beyond me, they couldn't think for one second how the supposed officers got such information.

That said, as for the scammers, i am glad they were caught, but they were stupid to start living a lavish lifestyle after stealing and laundering this money, they ought to know that doing that would attract attention to them and it did. Of course, law enforcement do uncover crypto scam, especially when the perpetrators are not so skilled in moving funds privately and breaking all links with their real identity.

I wouldn’t blame the victims, they are probably elderly people and panicked about their savings. I have been seeing some of the comments saying the scammers are not skilled in hiding the stolen crypto and that’s why they were caught. You can’t steal millions of pounds and think the police won’t catch you, the only reason why criminals have gotten away with crypto scams in the past was because the amount stolen from victims was small compared to big heists and the police were unwillingly to pursue the case. 

[OsaiEmma]

To buttress my previous https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5588058.msg66926172#msg66926172 about feelings safe to launder funds using Crypto-currency or scam people of their Crypto-currency and not get caught.

Here is a source https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://news.met.police.uk/news/men-who-stole-more-than-4-pounds-million-of-crypto-are-jailed-511271&ved=2ahUKEwj6ypSJ6dmVAxVxRkEAHRKPGowQ0PADKAB6BAgXEAE&sqi=2&usg=AOvVaw3wxVZtR0hQ2uTXuTJjE_iy and according to it a gang who stole over $4million were caught.

According to the news one of the gang member was caught while he was naked in his bed sleeping, this group of criminals specializes in impassonating security agency and the police, causing panic to their victims and advising them to send their funds to wallet the claim to be of the security agency.

There is a lot to learn from this news as a Crypto-currency user, the real police used all possible means to track down this criminal and once again I repeat you are not safe using Crypto-currency as an opportunity to scam or launder funds.

This means crypto currency is not as anonymous as we think it is, I guess it's because of all the centralized exchanges (CEXs) needing KYC and all.

Well, since we will have to sell these coins for fiat, it is a no brainer that they will surely trace it back to the real person since it is done through bank transfer and not direct cash.

[Fiatless]

First, i must say the victims are very gullible, how could they have had so much money in crypto, but yet fall for such a cheap scam like this. To believe that police officers would call you just to inform you that your coins are at risk is beyond me, they couldn't think for one second how the supposed officers got such information.

That said, as for the scammers, i am glad they were caught, but they were stupid to start living a lavish lifestyle after stealing and laundering this money, they ought to know that doing that would attract attention to them and it did. Of course, law enforcement do uncover crypto scam, especially when the perpetrators are not so skilled in moving funds privately and breaking all links with their real identity.

This might not be the case of greed but ignorance. I guess the victims were not promised high profit like those who fall for ponzi scheme and other scams. They were trying to keep their assets safe and it turned into a scam because they lacked knowledge. I recall there was a scam where scammers hacked the official phone number of law enforcement agencies and sent messages to their victims. These criminals could go to the extent of cloning the phone number of banks, police, or the EFCC.

Living a lavish life in the trademark of most scammers globally. I don't know if there is a spirit that pushes them to always showcase their stolen funds.

[Princess Leah]

First, i must say the victims are very gullible, how could they have had so much money in crypto, but yet fall for such a cheap scam like this. To believe that police officers would call you just to inform you that your coins are at risk is beyond me, they couldn't think for one second how the supposed officers got such information.

That said, as for the scammers, i am glad they were caught, but they were stupid to start living a lavish lifestyle after stealing and laundering this money, they ought to know that doing that would attract attention to them and it did. Of course, law enforcement do uncover crypto scam, especially when the perpetrators are not so skilled in moving funds privately and breaking all links with their real identity.

This might not be the case of greed but ignorance. I guess the victims were not promised high profit like those who fall for ponzi scheme and other scams. They were trying to keep their assets safe and it turned into a scam because they lacked knowledge. I recall there was a scam where scammers hacked the official phone number of law enforcement agencies and sent messages to their victims. These criminals could go to the extent of cloning the phone number of banks, police, or the EFCC.

Living a lavish life in the trademark of most scammers globally. I don't know if there is a spirit that pushes them to always showcase their stolen funds.

That is why people should ensure that they understand what they're doing before going into anything related to cryptocurrency because just a little mistake can make one get scammed or lose their funds, although many people lost money due to greed but majority of people are really ignorant of crypto investments.

 Some don't even know where to secure their coin, they buy from exchanges and leave it there, thinking it is safe. Scammers just need people to make silly mistakes and give them access to your funds so every crypto inclined person need to take their security more seriously.